Terrorists with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — renamed by radical members as the Islamic State — have been withholding basic necessities such as food to Christians and Shiites in the town of Mosul, trying to starve them into conversion or death.
One worker told the Arabic news outlet Ankawa that he was “warned that if he gives rations to Christians and Shiites, he will be charged and prosecuted according to sharia law,” Breitbart reported.
ISIL captured Mosul and at first, reports from the area were that life for residents was good — that the terrorist organization was winning the public relations battle by restoring electricity and distributing food among the locals. But now, the Assyrian International News Agency reported that ISIL’s started using its control to ration food — and has placed Christians and Shiites squarely in its target.
This wouldn’t be the first time ISIL has targeted Christians in Mosul. Previously, the terrorist group has destroyed the tomb of Jonah, and turned Christian areas of prayer into Muslim-controlled sites, Breitbart reported.
Along those same lines, ISIL has just torn down the cross above the St. Ephrem Cathedral in Mosul — the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese, Breitbart reported.
Christians, meanwhile, are fleeing to Kurdish territories. But several have returned to Mosul, believing “it is better to die at home than [stay] on the streets” as a refugee, said one pro-Christian organizational spokesman, trying to help Christians in Iraq, Breitbart reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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